It's finally getting cold in these parts. Time to get cozy and snuggle up with a glass of wine and a good movie! Maybe even a movie about wine ... there are some good ones out there, movies that take us into the vineyards and into the winery life. Some are old, some new; some are sappy, some hilarious, a few are controversial.

Let's take a poll and start a conversation about great wine movies. I'll list 10 in an attached poll, and let's see where everyone's opinions take us!

(I'm also thinking that this poll has an obvious partner for food movies in FLDG. Actually, off the top of my head I can think of a bunch of even better food movies - Babette's Feast, Big Night, Ratatouille, Tortilla Soup, Eat Drink Man Woman ... and I'm just getting warmed up.

When I think of wine and movies, strangely the one that always jumps into my mind is "Ratatouille". The vision of Skinner trying to prise out information from Linguini while plying him with Chateau Latour is priceless..

Daniel Rogov wrote:Not so much an entire film but a single scene from Breakfast at Tiffany's. No-one has ever paid tribute to wine as well as did Audrey Hepburn when she sipped Champagne in that delightful film.

Point well taken, Rogov, and of course, a separate poll on great wine scenes in movies would open up quite a few possibilities, not least Kermit and Miss Piggy in The Muppet Movie ...

Actually, a wine scene to match Hepburn's was the ode to Pinot Noir sung by Virginia Madsen in Sideways, which did even more for Pinot than it did against Merlot.

I have to confess that I found Sideways to be an anti-intelligent, anti-intellectual film. Sheesh....I disliked the film so much that I find it to be even an anti-film kind of film. Whether that is reflected in reality or is merely a reflection of some inherent sense of snobbism on my part remains open to debate.

I have to confess that I found Sideways to be an anti-intelligent, anti-intellectual film. Sheesh....I disliked the film so much that I find it to be even an anti-film kind of film.

Following some of the comments about perceived condescension on my part, I would like to emphasize that what follows is entirely my opinion, and that I do not think that there is anything technically wrong with Sideways. I simply intensely dislike it personally. I have edited out some of the stronger statements, since I think they were somewhat reactionary on my part.

I'm with Rogov. I had to make myself finish Sideways - the only film I have ever had to do so with. It was not, in wine speak, "well integrated." Part wine geekiness, part drunken orgy, one too high brow and one too low brow for the other. In short, an insult against the intellengence and good taste of the very people who might actually appreciate the setting. And I do not for the life of me understand why Thomas Hayden Church got the acting praise he did - that was a thoroughly unoteworthy performance - not bad mind you - just thoroughly unoteworthy. Paul Giamatti deserved any acting praise that might have been given to this film.

It continues to baffle me why so many wine people like a film with such a horribly poor sense of taste.

I'm going to indulge my inner curmudgeon by asserting that Sideways wasn't a wine movie at all: it was about the midlife crises of two dysfunctional and unlikeable middle aged men; Mondovino was a political screed only tangentially concerned with wine (Aimé Guibert as the embattled little man? Give me a farkin' break!); A Walk in the Clouds, A Good Year and French Kiss were sappy romances in which wine was window dressing. Bottle Shock I never bothered seeing after the scathing reviews it received, but it at least was about wine, even if the history and personalities were laughably distorted from reality.

I can't comment on the older films, which I've never seen, so I can't dismiss the whole lot out of hand, Robin

Mark Lipton wrote:I'm going to indulge my inner curmudgeon by asserting that Sideways wasn't a wine movie at all: it was about the midlife crises of two dysfunctional and unlikeable middle aged men; Mondovino was a political screed only tangentially concerned with wine (Aimé Guibert as the embattled little man? Give me a farkin' break!); A Walk in the Clouds, A Good Year and French Kiss were sappy romances in which wine was window dressing. Bottle Shock I never bothered seeing after the scathing reviews it received, but it at least was about wine, even if the history and personalities were laughably distorted from reality.

I can't comment on the older films, which I've never seen, so I can't dismiss the whole lot out of hand, Robin

Mark Lipton

I agree with Mark completely on "Sideways"...what an unlikeable bunch of characters.

Mark Lipton wrote:I'm going to indulge my inner curmudgeon by asserting that Sideways wasn't a wine movie at all: it was about the midlife crises of two dysfunctional and unlikeable middle aged men; Mondovino was a political screed only tangentially concerned with wine (Aimé Guibert as the embattled little man? Give me a farkin' break!); A Walk in the Clouds, A Good Year and French Kiss were sappy romances in which wine was window dressing. Bottle Shock I never bothered seeing after the scathing reviews it received, but it at least was about wine, even if the history and personalities were laughably distorted from reality.

I can't comment on the older films, which I've never seen, so I can't dismiss the whole lot out of hand, Robin

Mark Lipton

I agree on your description of Sideways which is why I voted for it as the only film worth watching in the group. Having gone through what would be described as middle age I knew reasonable facsimiles of the two characters in Sideways.

I feel disqualified to vote because I haven't actually seen every one of these movies!

I will say that one of my favorite all time movies is A Good Year.

To me, the fact that wine serves as a sincere, beautiful yet not "heavily detailed" aspect of the film is exactly what I love! Especially when I approach it from the logic that it is naturally a film FIRST. I also love the scenery in that film and appreciate that it is actually shot on location. If only more films did this! The film is "idyllic" in that I think it makes a viewer want to "get into" wine (if just on its romantic merit) yet it isn't a TECHNICAL subject about wine or its realities. Which is wise in my eyes. It's a stylish but light-hearted romance and I loved every character in it. To me, it is simply a romance centered around one of the most romantic subjects there is - wine! Nothing more "deep" than that and nothing less. If only more films could be that stylish, scenic and yet still enjoyable in just telling a "light hearted romance".

It's definitely my kind of film! But as I constantly say on here, I'm a hopeless romantic, both for the film and the general beverage it centers its story around. So feel free to take me with a grain of salt. After all, what do I know? I'm just here to share a smile and enjoy life. When it is always possible...

I’ll have to go with “The Secret of Santa Victoria”. The plot where the villagers come together and hide 1 million bottles of their precious wine from the occupying Germans is a scene that could of and most likely occurred in any small village in a wine-growing region of Europe at that time.

I've not seen them all, either, but I enjoyed Sideways a lot. It was goofy, disjointed, and the idea that someone like Virginia Madsen's character would ever have anything to do with Giamatti's was ridiculous. Still, I thought it was a lot of fun. And heck, in this genre, we're not looking at any Citizen Kane or Godfather quality films.

I considered voting for This Earth is Mine out of camp appeal for the rampant melodrama, but Sideways edged it out for basic enjoyment.

What? No James Bond fans here? How about double-oh-seven and a nice Bordeaux?Speaking of great wine scnenes - the train scene in Casino Royale where the man with the license to kill ordered a 1982 Ch. L'Angelus.

Bob Parsons wrote:Not sure about the wines served but remember "My dinnner with Andre"?

Bob,

I enjoyed that movie when I was in college. Several months ago I downloaded and watched it again. For some reason, it just didn't seem to hold up very well. It seemed more contrived than I remember it being. There was lots of wine consumed though.

Sam

"The biggest problem most people have is that they think they shouldn't have any." - Tony Robbins